The final showdown in Football Federation Australia's congress war has been set down for October 2, when a raft of governance reforms endorsed by FIFA - but opposed by Sport Australia - will be put to a vote. An extraordinary general meeting of FFA was called for on Friday, giving the 10 voting members of the national governing body just under a month to prepare for the all-important ballot. If the mooted reforms are passed, it will effectively spell the end of Steven Lowy's reign as chairman and pave the way for a new-look board to be elected. If they're blocked, FIFA is expected to either sack the FFA board and replace them with a normalisation committee, or opt for the "nuclear option" of suspending the country's membership - which could have disastrous outcomes for the Socceroos and Matildas. Either way, the face of football in Australia will change dramatically. Pro-reformists had spent weeks wrangling over fine print as they sought to digest the recommendations of the FIFA-backed congress review working group (CRWG) and turn them into resolutions to be put up at the EGM to change the FFA constitution. That arduous task was finally completed on Friday afternoon - just in time, too, given FIFA had stipulated the EGM had to be called by September 7. Eight votes out of 10 are needed to enact the reforms, which aim to expand the FFA congress and set the A-League on a path to independence. However, four state federations - northern NSW, Tasmania, the ACT and Northern Territory - are still believed to be opposed to the some of the CRWG's key findings and can block the vote if they continue stick firm. Their views are aligned with Lowy and the FFA board, while they've also gained support from Sport Australia CEO Kate Palmer. It emerged on Friday that Palmer had written a letter to the FFA membership declaring it would be a "concern" to Sport Australia if all of the CRWG's recommendations were passed, saying some of them did not meet their own governance principles. Sport Australia, a federal government agency, was immediately warned they were at risk of breaching FIFA's strict rules around government intervention in football. A spokesperson for Sport Australia later said it "does not want to see any changes made that would weaken the governance of such an important sport to the Australian community." A FIFA spokesperson told AAP: "FIFA is closely monitoring the ongoing process. We have no further comment at this stage." Australian Associated Press

September 7 2018 - 9:49PM

FFA congress showdown set for Oct 2 EGM

The final showdown in Football Federation Australia's congress war has been set down for October 2, when a raft of governance reforms endorsed by FIFA - but opposed by Sport Australia - will be put to a vote.

An extraordinary general meeting of FFA was called for on Friday, giving the 10 voting members of the national governing body just under a month to prepare for the all-important ballot.

If the mooted reforms are passed, it will effectively spell the end of Steven Lowy's reign as chairman and pave the way for a new-look board to be elected.

If they're blocked, FIFA is expected to either sack the FFA board and replace them with a normalisation committee, or opt for the "nuclear option" of suspending the country's membership - which could have disastrous outcomes for the Socceroos and Matildas.

Either way, the face of football in Australia will change dramatically.

Pro-reformists had spent weeks wrangling over fine print as they sought to digest the recommendations of the FIFA-backed congress review working group (CRWG) and turn them into resolutions to be put up at the EGM to change the FFA constitution.

That arduous task was finally completed on Friday afternoon - just in time, too, given FIFA had stipulated the EGM had to be called by September 7.

Eight votes out of 10 are needed to enact the reforms, which aim to expand the FFA congress and set the A-League on a path to independence.

However, four state federations - northern NSW, Tasmania, the ACT and Northern Territory - are still believed to be opposed to the some of the CRWG's key findings and can block the vote if they continue stick firm.

Their views are aligned with Lowy and the FFA board, while they've also gained support from Sport Australia CEO Kate Palmer.

It emerged on Friday that Palmer had written a letter to the FFA membership declaring it would be a "concern" to Sport Australia if all of the CRWG's recommendations were passed, saying some of them did not meet their own governance principles.

Sport Australia, a federal government agency, was immediately warned they were at risk of breaching FIFA's strict rules around government intervention in football.

A spokesperson for Sport Australia later said it "does not want to see any changes made that would weaken the governance of such an important sport to the Australian community."

A FIFA spokesperson told AAP: "FIFA is closely monitoring the ongoing process. We have no further comment at this stage."